Obama remark draws attention to ‘R-word’ campaign
March 20th, 2009
From CNN:
President Obama’s remark about the Special Olympics draws public attention to the organization less than two weeks before it launches a new campaign aimed at stopping the use of the word “retard.”
The group’s “Spread the Word to End the Word” effort is scheduled for March 31.
“Most people don’t think of this word as hate speech, but that’s exactly what it feels like to millions of people with intellectual disabilities, their families and friends,” a statement about the campaign reads. “This word is just as cruel and offensive as any other slur.”
The campaign features ads that use slurs against Asians, gays, Jews and African-Americans to make the point that language can be hurtful to all groups, including people with intellectual disabilities.
(Special Olympics graphic from CNN)
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April 1st, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Steve, you are disgusting! Unfortunately for me I have a parent that is just like you (whom I have disowned). Mandy, I agree, what a fool!
April 1st, 2009 at 11:52 am
Steve, we have our April Fool!
April 1st, 2009 at 9:00 am
Honestly, I’m not the least bit offended by this. People use the “R word” left and right, along with plenty of other obscenities. It’s nothing big to society itself, but rather more than just people complaining over Retards.
Sure, they are people, just inferior people through genetics. Just because they appear to be people through physical and emotional means, doesn’t make them equal to people in any other manner. They are no more than a burdon on society, and sadly, no one wishes to see that for what it is and accept it.
March 22nd, 2009 at 8:36 am
I am FURIOUS. I’ve been surfing the net and reading (on liberal websites where jokes about any other minority would get you accused – and rightly so – of being a bigot) how “people shouldn’t be so PC”. “PC” protects the dignity of other minorities, but nobody considers that “PC” – that’s normal!
Huffingtonpost – where I’ve posted for a long time – will not accept posts from angry parents. They get censored whereas there are plenty of posts using the “r” word, the “m” word (for Down’s) and all sort of other hate speech. Huffingtonpost (which has the President’s favor – he called on them at a press conference – weird, as it is a celeb site and not a serious political site) is fixated on Sarah Palin and any insults about her son are PC as far as the moderators on the site are concerned – and posts are moderated so the HP approves all that hate speech.
Grotesque. We have to stop accepting this abuse. It’s time for us to act up.
Sorry to rant, but it is unbelievable to me to have elected a man in the hope that he would usher in a new era of tolerance and progress and in under 3 months he manages to show he has so little respect for people who have suffered more than he ever has from discrimination that he can make them the butt of a dumb fratboy joke.
March 21st, 2009 at 1:49 am
I, for one, am waiting for the President’s “moving” and “sincere” apology.
He has not said anything. His office has offered up a statement.
He needs to stand in front of a camera and apologize to the millions of Americans and their families that he blatantly offended with his comments.
Then he needs to voice to Congress the need to create and enforce laws to ensure equality. This is a civil rights movement and this is the time to act while it has the attention that it has needed for decades.